I must have killed a china-man!

[Hasbeen]

Things have progressed, but have struck a roadblock.

Water pump, viscus fan, alternator all done & fitted, now just the radiator.

Mine was just mildly sick, with slightly restricted flow, & getting thin in spots. It is to have a simple recore job. Just one problem, Christmas!

The people who make cores here were closed for Christmas until Monday. Of course they don't stock cores for TR7s, so it is a special order. That's fine, but since reopening they are flat out catching up with demand for the popular stuff that ran out of stock, while they were shut.

Thought about a nice alloy job. Not all that much dearer, but a longer lead time, so dropped the idea.

Hasbeen

[dmtrmp6]

G'day Phil,
Re radiator, I have a VL commodore radiator in my 7. Cheaper than recoring the original and essentially drop in - depending upon your top pipe/hose configuration. Radiator is slightly wider, taller and thicker (more cooling area) than standard TR7 item, but width wise it drops easily between subframes (no mods), the slightly extra height is accommodated by adding 10-15mm spacer(s) between the lower radiator crossmember and mount points. Advantage is a common, readily available, low cost core with extra cooling capacity. The 2 x TR7 top radiator mounting points and the top pipes on the radiator can be added/altered easily by your friendly radiator shop. I also had a fitting added to the LHS radiator tank to take a standard threaded fitting for a commodore electric thermo fan sensor and found a twin 10 inch electirc fan assembly (on Aust Ebay - see below) with included low profile shroud that closely matches the radiator dimensions such that mounting at perimeter (not through the core) was straight forward and sits neatly on rear of radiator core once the stock TR7 mechanical fan is removed. All very neat and tidy. Will take couple phots later tonight and try to upload or can PM as an option. Rgds, Daryl M

The fan can be found at following ebay web page - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10-Inch-Ther ... 19d440b5fa

[Hasbeen]

Thanks for that Daryl. I have a Commodore radiator in the 8, although I think it's a VN, with a 4 core fitted. It was one of my first thoughts. However when I looked I found they had used the space on the passengers side of the radiator for the catcher, & filter for the air conditioning system. It would be a big deal to redesign all that.

I have used the other side for the overflow reclaim tank. Not a big deal I know, but was rather proud of using it to block off the space beside the radiator, rather than a bit of conveyor belt I had replacing the original equipment thing.

The idea of a thermo fan is one of the reasons I wanted a higher output alternator. I will now have that option available, If I still have a problem with a working water pump.

This thing is not all that highly tuned. It does go well, but should not be struggling with overheating, with stock gear.

Hasbeen

[Beans]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Hasbeen</i>

... This thing is not all that highly tuned. It does go well, but should not be struggling with overheating, with stock gear ... <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Quite correct, even my 135 BHP DHC ran faultlessly with the original cooling lay-out.
(I only put in an alloy radiator during restoration because the old one was past its prime, and was developing some very small leaks).
And the rather higher tuned FHC Sprint had been fine for over 15 years with nothing more than a slightly bigger radiator.

The biggest problem with the cooling system is that the engineering people at BL/Triumph did know what they were doing.
Especially on the later cars. Change one thing on the cooling system and the rest might suffer as a result.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="3"><font color="red">My full Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size3"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[dmtrmp6]

Cheers Phil, and good luck getting it sorted. BTW, the dual fan unit that I mentioned draws about 8 - 10 Amps each fan for total of 18-20 Amps on high), I have them wired with a dual sensor switch, relays and cct breaker to give both a slow speed (series) and high/full speed (parallel). Operates like many modern cars and most of the time on low speed, unless working hard. Rgds, DM

[Hasbeen]

I'VE GOT A CAR BACK!

Not just any old car either, but MY CAR. That lovely car that does what ever you want with out fuss of hassle.

It drove the 65Km home just like it always has. Moderate traffic at 40Km/H, the Highway at 110, & country roads at 80, it made no difference.

Cruising all the way, 32C outside temperature, air conditioning roaring, she sat on just under 3/8 on the gauge all the way. That is 79/81C at the thermostat housing.

It is unbelievable how good it felt to me. I was going to say you wouldn't believe how good it was, but then most of you know the feeling, when it all comes finally right. I think it is even better when there has been a bit of trouble & frustration to over come, along the way.

It does appear it was the loose impeller on that damn water pump.

My fervent wish is that I can now close this thread, forever.

[Beans]

May all your wishes come true [;)]

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="3"><font color="red">My full Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size3"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[Hasbeen]

Thanks Beans, I think I deserve a bit of smooth for a while.

Hasbeen